Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Summary Justice by William Brodrick

William Brodrick is a British novelist. He was first an Augustinian friar and then became a practicing barrister. His debut legal thriller The Sixth Lamentation received critical acclaim and his third book A Whispered Name won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Book. Under the pen name John Fairfax he has written four legal thrillers with William Benson as an remarkable criminal barrister. The first book in the series is Summary Justice (Little Brown UK, 2018), which opens with Benson being convicted for a murder he didn’t commit. He decides to become a barrister in order to prove his own innocence after he manages to be released.

Some 12 years later he has completed legal training and is leading the defense in his first murder case. The case he is defending is remarkably similar to his own. Sarah Collingstone was seen arguing with Andrew Bealing, who was later found murdered. Benson was convicted after his opponent in a pub altercation was killed. Benson’s intensity and focus gives him unexpected advantages in the courtroom; he was not thought to have a chance against his more experienced opposing counsel.

After his training, he approached one legal chamber after another to obtain practical experience and he was turned down by nearly every one. Few lawyers want to have anything to do with him, believing a convicted felon to be a blot on their profession. Two or three have chosen to help him, and they are treated as rogues and pariahs by their peers. Benson is shunned and insulted at every turn, in and out of the courtroom.

I learned a great deal about the method by which someone becomes a barrister or a solicitor in England, something I had not previously considered. The ethics of the legal profession is a major theme here, resulting in a really unusual legal thriller. In addition to the ordinary courtroom scenes, which are expected, this book asks if someone who has been convicted of violating the laws of the land should be allowed to uphold those laws.

This is a very good thriller with an unexpected philosophical streak. Readers of U.S. legal thrillers may find it slow-going while they figure out the finer points surrounding the legal profession that are so important to the plot. The U.S. system is different enough not to be terribly useful here. For committed fans of legal thrillers.

·         Publisher: ‎Little, Brown UK; 1st Edition (May 29, 2018)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Hardcover: ‎304 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1408708728

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1408708729 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2023 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.